10/16/08

We have been having what seems like a nasty virus going around the staff lately. I was sick about a week and a half ago, but it seemed to go away with a little antibiotics. I only felt drained for half a day and then had slight symptoms for the next three days or so, but nothing that slowed me down much. Fortunately, it was the week that school was out. The following week, my group came and nearly everyone got sick. Many were out for a day or two and had been throwing up and had diarrhea. The following week, day by day nearly all of the staff had been getting so sick that each person nearly lost a day of teaching. Everyone seemed to have the same thing. They had been getting sick and were completely drained. However, within two days they all seemed to be better again. I don’t know if this is what I had the week before because I didn’t ever seem to have as severe of symptoms as they did. Well, yesterday, one of our teachers was getting this but it seemed to be affecting her more than most of us. After school I saw her being taken to the hospital for some tests. Fortunately, a lady from the group that flew in, was a nurse and was able to take some blood samples to be delivered to either a hospital or clinic nearby for testing.

About an hour after school, I was on my way back to my classroom to grab some books and to work on my lessons a little. As I was walking by, I noticed some of my students sitting on a picnic table that is right inside the front of the school. I have seen the same students over and over sitting here after school with one of the teacher’s aides. I always say hi as I am passing, but today I stopped by to see what they were working on. Gerdeley, Farah and Sabina were all sitting there along with a few other students from other grades. I asked them how they were doing and they said they were working on their homework and had some questions. So, for the next hour I sat there and helped them through some of the problems they had difficulty with and then went over other material from past lessons that they were having trouble with as well. Most of the difficulty was with rounding numbers and the greatest common factor of two numbers, so it was great to have some time to sit with them and go over this material. I think it is awesome that they stay at school for an hour or two just to work on their homework before going home. It’s great because it gives them a place to sit down and spread their books out when they may not have a desk or big table at home. It is also a good environment for them to be in. Further, I like how the students are treated and loved by the teachers here. As I was sitting, many teachers passed by and they all stopped to say hi to the students and to see how they are doing. Since we all live so closely to the school, it is common to see teachers passing by and whenever they do, they don’t just say hi and keep going. They always seem to have enough time to stop and talk to the students who are hanging out at the school to ask them how they are doing, to joke around with them and just to get to know them more since in class it can be hard to do when you have to stay on task.